Day 10 - what are the chances of that?

As they say, it's a small world, which was amply proved this evening when Lesley and I ended up in a restaurant for dinner on a table next to Ian Hamer who I went to Bolton School with. Ian is with a group cycling the Scotland NC500. I would love to say that my average speed and average daily distance were comparable to his, but athletically, we were always worlds apart.

Part of our discussion was about logistics which is always one of the challenges on holidays like this and is why many people choose organised holidays where all of that is taken care of for you. Once we'd finish the Hebridean Way, our challenge was then to get us plus bikes back home. Our chosen method was to cycle to Stornaway, get a ferry to Ullapool where we are staying tonight, cycle to Inverness over two days and then train and cycle back to Glasgow airport where we've left the car.

Today was the start of that return journey and it's been an absolutely brilliant day with sunshine, blue skies, puffy white clouds and next to no wind all day - the best weather of the holiday 🌞. The day started with a very punctual call from the NHS for a telephone consultation (nothing serious). The nurse initially thought I was joking when I said where I was! The consultation was done very efficiently by 9.20 giving us a comfortable 4 hours to cover the 25 miles to Ullapool. Replacing an inner tube on Lesley's bike hardly ate into our contingency and we made Ullapool in plenty of time for the ferry.

We've had a pleasant stroll around Ullapool and are chilling now before we have to tackle another cooked breakfast followed by seeing what the main road to Inverness is like .

Have a happy Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday everyone!

Balanced scorecard (0-10)

Total miles cycled 260 (253 for Lesley)

Wetness level -5

Stress level 0

Tiredness 2

Scenery 5

Enjoyment 9

Kite flying 0

Excess calorie intake 4

Sightseeing 1

Midgie count 0.5 (we think we saw some briefly)